<p>I'm guessing it is too late, but I just checked the "Where am I?"
section on the website, and it says that I am missing
my parent's W2 forms, tax returns, etc... (I am only missing
some documents in the financial section)</p>
<p>I thought that submitting documents for financial aid was
optional, but it seems like it is required for the admissions
office to make a decision?</p>
<p>Are those documents necessary for them to make a decision?
and why?</p>
<p>I will be sending them immediately (although probably too late)
but I just would like to know</p>
<p>If you are not applying for any merit based or financial based aid and plan to pay your full freight…then indeed no documents are required and as such, this will not in any way delay a decision.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I had the same “oh crap” moment about a week ago. I sent my forms off by FedEx (because I’m a little OCD – I could have saved the money and sent them by snailmail).</p>
<p>You can submit a CMU FA form now and provide the final aid documents if you DO qualify for financial aid. You will not get aid disbursement without everything in official form. However, even if your preliminary document shows that you WONT qualify for f/a some of the merit scholarships require this documentation (they don’t want to give you merit aid and then have you submit a FA that gives you a financial need because then they need to recind the merit and substitute FA…etc so fill it out even if you dont anticipate need and provide the official tax and income documentation if you do end up qualifying and receiving financial aid. CMU says fill out their form now, worry about the official stuff in May/June if you want to get your aid in September. They don’t want you to do all the official stuff if you aren’t accepted or you don’t need/receive any aid.</p>